As a board member, each of you is concerned primarily about one thing: the bottom line. You want to make sure Coca-Cola is profitable. Your main competition, Pepsi, decided to leave South Africa two years ago, and you are weighing the costs and benefits of leaving. The costs of staying in South Africa include increased pressure from activists groups and the harm to your public image. The costs of leaving would mean that you would leave a country where you have been active for years, and you would lose millions in revenue. The benefits are the opposite – an enhanced public image and the right to claim that you are a company who cares about racial equality. Being in Atlanta Georgia doesn’t help either given your state’s racial segregation in the past. You are particularly upset that the recent parade celebrating the 100-year anniversary of your company was lined with protestors waving signs that read things like "Coke sweetens apartheid."
Read the article about the debate over divestment in South Africa from the New York Times, which you probably would have read were you an actual board member of Coca-Cola at the time. This will give you an idea of what many in the business community were thinking at the time and what their thought process looked like. You have to weigh the costs and benefits of leaving with the consequences of inaction (staying in South Africa and having protestors continue to demand that your company do something).
Read the article about the debate over divestment in South Africa from the New York Times, which you probably would have read were you an actual board member of Coca-Cola at the time. This will give you an idea of what many in the business community were thinking at the time.
Essential Questions for you to answer when voting –
Is your company’s involvement in South Africa really supportive of apartheid?
What does staying in South Africa mean for your public image?
How will staying or leaving impact your company’s bottom line?
Preparing for the simulation
Fill out the following worksheet ahead of time as you read through the different groups' views on what Coca-Cola should do. Be prepared to use it to ask questions tomorrow during the debate.
We will use parliamentary procedure, with Mr. Grieve playing the role of the Board Chairman and Coca-Cola Company President at the time, Donald R. Keough. Mr. Grieve will run the meeting while you, as board members, will be responsible for debating, amending, and ultimately voting on what stance the board will take towards South Africa. Not defending whatever our stance ends up being is not an option, so we must explain to our shareholders our reasoning for adopting the path forward that we take.
Remember, you can make or offer up amendments to motions and we can end up doing a combination approach, taking some things we like from one group and some things from another, or strike our own path. If you want an introduction to parliamentary procedure, check out this link, although Mr. Grieve will explain how this will work during our preparation.
Here's an example for how to word a resolution... we have to keep the parts in bold and change the rest of the wording:
Whereas, We consider that recreation is a necessary part of a child's education; and
Whereas, There is no public ground in this village where our school children can play; therefore be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of this meeting that ample play grounds should be immediately provided for our school children.
Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed by the chair to present these resolutions to the village authorities and to urge upon them prompt action in the matter.
Read the article about the debate over divestment in South Africa from the New York Times, which you probably would have read were you an actual board member of Coca-Cola at the time. This will give you an idea of what many in the business community were thinking at the time and what their thought process looked like. You have to weigh the costs and benefits of leaving with the consequences of inaction (staying in South Africa and having protestors continue to demand that your company do something).
Read the article about the debate over divestment in South Africa from the New York Times, which you probably would have read were you an actual board member of Coca-Cola at the time. This will give you an idea of what many in the business community were thinking at the time.
Essential Questions for you to answer when voting –
Preparing for the simulation
Fill out the following worksheet ahead of time as you read through the different groups' views on what Coca-Cola should do. Be prepared to use it to ask questions tomorrow during the debate.During the simulation
We will use parliamentary procedure, with Mr. Grieve playing the role of the Board Chairman and Coca-Cola Company President at the time, Donald R. Keough. Mr. Grieve will run the meeting while you, as board members, will be responsible for debating, amending, and ultimately voting on what stance the board will take towards South Africa. Not defending whatever our stance ends up being is not an option, so we must explain to our shareholders our reasoning for adopting the path forward that we take.
Remember, you can make or offer up amendments to motions and we can end up doing a combination approach, taking some things we like from one group and some things from another, or strike our own path. If you want an introduction to parliamentary procedure, check out this link, although Mr. Grieve will explain how this will work during our preparation.
Here's an example for how to word a resolution... we have to keep the parts in bold and change the rest of the wording: